Connection of multiple valves using pipes (refer to prior art FIG. 1) in a fluid control system is widely used but is labour intensive and prone to leaks. More complicated systems take up a lot of space and are difficult to maintain.
Valve manifolds (refer to prior art FIG. 2) are widely used to avoid the problems above but are heavy, expensive to design and make, often require individual design for each configuration and are often severely limited in the number of valves and complexity of circuit that may be formed.
Prior art modular manifold or valve systems must be fixed together rigidly to provide a leak free fluid connection or require a piped or other flexible connection that introduces space, time and cost to the design and thereby negates much of the advantage provided by the manifold.
Where a large number of connections are required to the outside of an enclosure or to another device; alignment of all of the ports may be problematic with a modular design due to the accumulation of tolerances between components; this typically requires pipework to take up the variation in position which introduces cost and complexity as above.
Furthermore, the addition of an electronically controlled valve to control a piloted valve increases the cost, which is particularly the case for ATEX explosion proof designs.